Everybody Should Read General John Kelly's Speech About Two Marines In The Path Of A Truck Bombhttp://www.businessinsider.com/john-kellys-marines-in-ramadi-2014-5/comments
en-usWed, 31 Dec 1969 19:00:00 -0500Tue, 20 Mar 2018 00:36:53 -0400Geoffrey Ingersollhttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384dcf96bb3f7ac79dfdb99mikej77Tue, 27 May 2014 14:44:09 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384dcf96bb3f7ac79dfdb99
Now this is a lot better. Thank you and it may well be that we would agree more than it would have appeared at first.
My point about MacArthur is that relative to other leaders at that time in the Pacific he was less inclined to run up the casualty lists and, in my opinion, makes him notable for that if for no other reason.
Thanks for the reply.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384d09beab8ea1b6ff4b403JE0311Tue, 27 May 2014 13:51:23 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384d09beab8ea1b6ff4b403
I was an avid student of military history before the 9/11 attacks, and that was one factor in my decision to enlist. I recognized that a vast majority of scholars and amateurs studying war had no experience of it, and I decided I might as well go experience it for myself if I was going to make a career out of it.
There is a strong over-arching narrative in military history that the act of fighting a war is this rational process guided by easy to define tactical and strategic principals like maneuver, fortification, etc, and that the outcomes are decided by which side's commanders and officers execute these properly. My experience on the battlefield disabused me of those ideas completely. The histories are written by men who are so far removed from the actual experience of war that they cannot possibly understand what they're attempting to describe and impose an orderly narrative on, or those who stand to gain by inflating their own prowess. The foundation on which military history and our culture's understanding of war is built, to be very frank, is complete bullshit.
To go to war is to assure tragedy and catastrophe without fail. It cannot be refined, it cannot be controlled. There is no lesson to be found in the study of Polybius or MacArthur or Napoleon or anyone else that can change that.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384c94e6bb3f79734dfdb97mikej77Tue, 27 May 2014 13:20:14 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384c94e6bb3f79734dfdb97
This is no longer an acceptable position. In the days when we had an unlimited supply of labor especially surplus sons from the farms upon which the majority of our citizens lived up until the 20th Century and when it was not completely unusual for women to birth over 6 children and when we invested nearly zero in their education we could afford to burn off tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of troops, pilots, sailors, aircraft and other machines.
Now we may have put $120,000.00 into each citizen just to cover a H.S. education.
REALITY ( you nor I have any idea of Truth and it is presumptuous to think so) is that we can no longer afford this level of man burning soe WE DO NOT deploy any troops unless we are able to protect them from dump trucks. WE DO NOT place 100s of thousands into death traps to get blasted to pieces and sent home with minds destroyed and limbs missing.
If you were familiar with military history FROM THE TIME OF THE ROMAN LEGIONS and long before you would understand the problem of establishing bases without adequate perimeter defenses. In competent officers tend to do exactly this though they were crucified for such dereliction of duty and incompetence in the past.
As you well know both Iraq and Afghanistan were wars of choice where stupid politicians and generals CHOSE to invade these death traps and yet after 13 years of engagement and after 1000s of US Dead and uncounted dead and destroyed locals in this area you STILL have not learned a very simple lesson?
Now then, learn about the casual way in which US officers have always thrown away the lives of our people while shrugging their shoulders and blaming the politicians. Would you like to start with the insane slaughter during the Civil War which left the US bankrupt and the economy of the South destroyed?
How about brainless meatgrinder assaults on islands in the Pacific, Korea, Vietnam and elsewhere or the launching of pilots from carriers during the Pacific Campaign who had not been trained to land not to mention Pearl Harbor itself?
The Sandbox has been a typical US tragic waste of blood and treasure.
Study the campaigns of General MacArthur to learn about one of the few leaders who was reasonably careful with the lives of the people who served with him.
The Public is TOLD what we are doing by a Government whose power is defended by the Department of Defense whose leaders take orders from hapless meatheads like Bush, Clinton, and Obama.
Where are the resignations from those who should have known better? Who had the guts to stand up and punch that fool Rumsfeld right in the nose? Rumsfeld knew and agreed the US Army was not configured to this mission but those plush general's pensions were at stake.
Consequently young people are sent to drive up and down the same roads waiting to get blown up year after year after year while Hero Petraeus contemplates a Presidential Campaign. He is lucky he was not hanged by order of the Senate.
The American People almost always try to avoid wars for the waste of life and wealth but are always compelled/manipulated into acquiescence.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384be076bb3f70206dfdb9cJE0311Tue, 27 May 2014 12:32:07 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384be076bb3f70206dfdb9c
I'm a former Infantry Marine, Iraq vet, and I fought in Ramadi. Your comment misses the point completely. We do not have enough tanks, heavy machine guns, or other heavy weapons to park them in front of every FOB, outpost, and patrol base. Even if we did, the layman's trust in the effectiveness of firepower is hugely misplaced. In this particular situation, no crew served weapon could have engaged that truck in time - the two Marines barely had time to react with personal weapons. Those "damn little carbines" and the young men carrying them stopped the truck and saved 150 lives.
This very American notion that we could safely solve all of our problems if we just used a bigger gun or a bigger bomb needs to go away. That kind of thinking avoids the truth that when we choose to send our military to fight on the ground, terrible sacrifices by the best of our young people are unavoidable and the responsibility for that ultimately rests with the public who tolerates it - not the caliber of the guns.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384b9a969bedd3f10dfdb9bdknolaTue, 27 May 2014 12:13:29 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5384b9a969bedd3f10dfdb9b
I want explanations from those cowardly bastards in D.C. why they are constantly cutting Vets benefits, soldiers pay, sending them into battle without proper training, equipment. These cowards in D.C. have damaged this country so badly a dissertation could be written in a day on their idiocy.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53847e51ecad04c810dfdb96grenadetradeTue, 27 May 2014 08:00:17 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53847e51ecad04c810dfdb96
The sad thing is you need grammar lessons.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/538438c8ecad042b1747e839JuliusTue, 27 May 2014 03:03:36 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/538438c8ecad042b1747e839
The sad thing is there is no God, so is no heaven. It's a waist for two great solders.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53840cb5eab8ea113261d09bmikej77Mon, 26 May 2014 23:55:33 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/53840cb5eab8ea113261d09b
You may recall a very similar event occurred in Beirut during the Reagan Admin when the dump truck was a record conventional bomb at that time. Many troops were killed at that time with the troops unable to stop the truck. Thirty years later the same tactics work over and over again.
Officers are less than candid when they say they value the lives placed in their hands. Study the island hopping campaigns in the Pacific (WW2) to note the casual waste of life by the US officer corps.
Vietnam the same - huge number of casualties for no notable achievement. Casualties ARE lower in the sand box but same casual extravagance from the officers to the degree that they are permitted including sending thousands to ride around in metal boxes waiting to be blown to pieces year after year after year. Finally the system shakes the money and blood out of the hands of the Generals.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383fe09eab8ea917b61d098Dean JohnsonMon, 26 May 2014 22:52:57 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383fe09eab8ea917b61d098
God bless them.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383e9446bb3f76c1bfd48c5The ShadowMon, 26 May 2014 21:24:20 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383e9446bb3f76c1bfd48c5
Semper Fidelishttp://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383d7f8eab8ea807261d098grenadetradeMon, 26 May 2014 20:10:32 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383d7f8eab8ea807261d098
I'm not a religious man, but if there is a God and if there is a heaven, these men deserve to be there. God bless our troops, fuck you politicians.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383d43e69bedd9e0e47e839TommyBoyMon, 26 May 2014 19:54:38 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383d43e69bedd9e0e47e839
Isn't that the way its always been throughout history? It is always the most useless corrupt cowardly old men (a.k.a. politicians) who start the wars but the young men and women that actually believe in the ideals of the republic that do the dying.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383d31f6bb3f7293dfd48c8jamesxxxxxxxxxxxxxxMon, 26 May 2014 19:49:51 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383d31f6bb3f7293dfd48c8
It's true.
These kinds of postings are rather common - they should have specialized gear for that kind of stuff.
Why on earth were there not tire-wire (blows tires) at the end?
Or more intelligent arrangement of concrete blocks?
Or EMP bombs to shut knock the engine out?http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383b372eab8eae77961d09amikej77Mon, 26 May 2014 17:34:42 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383b372eab8eae77961d09a
You might mention the puny little .22s these brave Marines were provided with to defend against a giant truck bomb.
People in positions like this need something like a ZSU-23 or, at the minimum, 4x50 liquid cooled Brownings to shred the attacker tearing the vehicle to pieces.
These damn little carbines are the minimum against other people - not for vehicles. Putting our people outside the wire with these damn little bb guns is a disgrace.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383729deab8ea291961d098b.Mon, 26 May 2014 12:58:05 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/5383729deab8ea291961d098
"That is the kind of people who are on watch all over the world tonight — for you."the last sentence takes the cake.if it would happen on american soil,it would even make sense.http://www.businessinsider.com/c/538367a2eab8eaac6861d09bpongidae rexMon, 26 May 2014 12:11:14 -0400http://www.businessinsider.com/c/538367a2eab8eaac6861d09b
Neither this government, nor any of the other worthless shit hole governments where this government sends its young men, deserves to have in its service such totally selfless and dedicated heros. When I look at the miserable, cowardly clowns in the US government who put our people in these situations by going there, and also by bringing terrorists here on a red carpet, and think only of their 'political careers', it makes me sick.